Louif Paradis Season Edit Interview

A lot of people were wondering what you were doing with your footage. Why was it so secretive?

I was confused myself because for a little bit I thought we were doing a Team Vacation video and that all my footage was going in there. Then I realized it wasn’t the case and those guys were doing an online part for Jed [Anderson] and wanted to do one with me as well and I was down, especially with Tanner [Pendleton] editing it. But since a lot of it was already in my Real Snow part I didn’t want too much hype around it like if I was dropping all new footage.

Was the lack of snowfall in North America a factor in your filming last winter?

In December, especially. Since the Real Snow thing was due on the 2nd of January I wanted to film for at least a month but December was so dry. At first it was either Anchorage, Alaska where everyone already was, or Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka in Russia.We tried that but the dude at the consulate wasn’t down. Then I heard Sapporo, Japan had snow so we went for two weeks. Hopefully this December will be better. But after that, Québec got a good enough amount of snow.

Who was behind the lens filming most of your footage?

Hayden Rensch, Tanner Pendleton, and Roobs [Matt Roberge].

How was Salomon’s Team Vacation? It looked like a really good time.

It was awesome. I got to ride a lot of resorts that I had never been to and meet locals who would always make sure we had a good time. It wasn’t very productive for my video part but it was refreshing. And it was cool to ride with the team in the middle of the winter too because I don’t get to ride with most of ’em other than at catalog shoots.

R: Louif Paradis P: Oli Gagnon

Who on the Salomon team are you most impressed by when you go out with them to shoot?

Everyone impresses me in a way. Like watching Wolle [Nyvelt], Taka [Nakai], and Josh [Dirksen] ride is pretty insane. But the most I’d say Jed and Bode [Merrill]. Watching Jed skate is insane and when he’s snowboarding he does everything so easily. And Bode is just crazy.

What was it like winning $75,000 for your Real Snow edit?

It was crazy. I’m not personnally driven by money, and I’m not very mathematic either, like I don’t visualize prices on things and also I don’t think I realize yet what that means. But I was definetly stoked! I was watching it on TV while waiting in a room in the Snowboarder Mag condo to do an interview with Peter Line so I was already nervous. I felt light when I heard it!

What did you do with all that money?

Most of it I am saving. I paved my driveway and had someone re-do my yard, cause it was rough and water wouldn’t circulate well. They reshaped it. Nothing very interesting. I didn’t buy a new car or anything cool, really. Oh I went to Vietnam for a month with my girlfriend backpacking around. I also shared some of it with Hayden for making it.

Talk a little bit about “Déjá Vu…”

“Déjá Vu” is the video project that we are making this coming season. It’s me, Alex [Cantin], Will [Lavigne], Nic [Sauve], Laurent [-Nicolas Paquin], Ben [Bilocq], Frank [April] and Phil [Jacques], and Hayden, Greg [Desjardins], and Tanner will be making it. We did one trip together last season to make a video series called “Prologue” to announce it. It went really well. I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited to go into the winter as I am now! It’s always been something we were saying we wanted to do someday. I’m hyped that it’s actually happening.

Do you feel like the film has the potential to change the way people ride in the streets?

I don’t know about changing things but hopefully it will be good enough to inspire some people. I think we all want to make our best part yet.